Nationwide playing Hardball???

[campino]

Just a question regarding Nationwides policy at the moment

I am in the process of claiming back charges from banks and credit cards (managed to get back about £1250 so far J and still have more to claim!)

Anyhow, whilst I have been doing this, my current bank, Nationwide, who up until now I had no issues with, have hit me with 3 x £30 charges for refused Direct Debits & Standing Orders. I have had no previous charges with them as nowadays I am a lot more organised with my money. (The charges were the result of a cock-up – partly my fault, partly third-party company trying to take money out when they shouldn’t have.)

Obviously, as I am quite well versed regarding the whole claiming back charges issue, I firstly rang them up to try and persuade them politely to refund them.

Interestingly, polite as they were, they are saying now that Nationwide is point blank refusing to refund any charges (unless it is an error by Nationwide) they apparently have adopted this policy since Oct 05 (although I am sure they have paid out to people since that date) and they haven’t even altered their charges down to £12. I made several phonecalls at different times and spoke to both customer service bods and supervisors but they all seem to be singing from the same song sheet.

I imagine its all bulls**t and that Nationwide will pay out like the rest, but I thought I best check that nothing has changed that I don’t know about. They are my current bank and its only £90. As (apart from this) I like banking with them, I may let it go (charges are over 2 months span) as I have plenty of bigger fish to fry so to speak.

As a precaution though, I am also in process of opening parachute account.

What do you folks think?

Cheers

[mahharg]

Hi campino

 

I noticed that you mentioned that it was partly third party (company). Are you aware of your direct debit guarantee. If the company takes money out of your account without your permission then YOUR BANK (not company are obliged to issue a full and IMMEDIATE refund hence you wouldn't have incurred charges. If a company changes a date they must give you at least 14 days notice.

[campino]

Nice one

 

I will give em a call and see what happens!

 

Cheers

[mahharg]

Dont let them fob you off they know it is them not the company that have to refund you. Let me know how you get on. I wonder if anybody has ever used the Direct debit guaranee to get their money back I haven't but I saw a program about it a few months ago.

[mahharg]

Direct Debit - Your rights

 

look at this just found it. Arm yourself before you dive in

[campino]

Cheers

 

And this applies to the actual unpaid DD charge?

 

The third party company paid me back the actual amount they took, now its the actual charge that Nationwide put on that I am disputing!

[mahharg]

If any payment is made in error, you should contact your bank or building society who are responsible for giving you a full and immediate refund - even if the original error was made by the organisation collecting the payment.

 

Taken from link in #5.

 

Nationwide have let money go from your account without your permission. If as they were obliged to they gave you an IMMEDIATE refund you would not have gone overdrawn. I would go to your local branch and it is down to them.

[mahharg]

Q. Who actually controls Direct Debit payments?

 

A. The bank or building society that holds your account is responsible for all aspects of the running of that account. They are therefore answerable for all payments, including those made by Direct Debit.

 

I think we can safely conclude that the charge was incurred simply because of Nationwides error.

[campino]

There argument seems to be that the actual amount taken would have been covered, but as the DD was refused, i never 'lost' this amount as i never paid it in first place (due to DD being refused)

 

The actual charge seems to lie outside of their responsibility - they claim that I can obviously claim the charge back from the third party company as its that companies fault that the DD charge was incurred.

 

Nationwide seem to be saying that they are only responsible for the actual money itself - so if they had paid that out in error, they would have to refund it etc. But the charge is not their (or mine) fault but the third-party company

 

What do you think?

[mahharg]

If any payment is made in error, you should contact your bank or building society who are responsible for giving you a full and immediate refund - even if the original error was made by the organisation collecting the payment.

 

Q. Who actually controls Direct Debit payments?

 

A. The bank or building society that holds your account is responsible for all aspects of the running of that account. They are therefore answerable for all payments, including those made by Direct Debit.

 

These quotes are from link in #5.

I knew they would say something like that. Under the D/D guarantee they should not have even paid the D/D.

 

So let me get this straight they are charging you for an unpaid D/D which they did not have your permission to pay in the first palce. I think you should remind them of the T's & C's. I think you will be better off going into branch.

[campino]

Going into the Branch might be better!

 

The crux of their argument seems to be that I only cancelled the DD with the Third Party company - because I didnt specifically ring them, they seem to be taking the view that 'how are they supposed to know'

 

The other issue is that their insurance means they can claim back monires wrognly claimed by DD's from the third party company, but I guess the actual charges are excluded from this.

[mahharg]

The crux of their argument seems to be that I only cancelled the DD with the Third Party company - because I didnt specifically ring them, they seem to be taking the view that 'how are they supposed to know'

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I think If you have failed to inform bank to cancel D/D If the company attempted to collect a fixed amount on the same day then the direct debit guarantee MIGHT not cover. I might be wrong here but not too sure.

 

The other issue is that their insurance means they can claim back monires wrognly claimed by DD's from the third party company, but I guess the actual charges are excluded from this.

If it is their error then I would demand the charge back. Their error they sort it.

[campino]

Im pretty sure i asked them verbally to cancel the DD but still! We shall see!

 

Thanks for your help on this!

[mahharg]

No ignore that last post about bad news it is their problem

If any payment is made in error, you should contact your bank or building society who are responsible for giving you a full and immediate refund - even if the original error was made by the organisation collecting the payment.

[campino]

True

 

But the DD page says

 

"You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time and the process is very straightforward.

 

Simply contact your bank or building society, if this is by phone or internet, written confirmation may be required. We also recommend you notify the organisation concerned.

Your bank or building society can make the cancellation up to and including the due date, but try not to leave it until the last minute or you run the risk of a payment being made. Remember that cancelling the Direct Debit simply stops paying the organisation. If you carry on receiving the goods or service then you will have to organise an alternative payment method."

 

 

 

[mahharg]

Ask yourself a few questions

 

1) If they changed the date or amount without informing you then the bank must rectify it. So If they collected an amount different from what you agreed with them (£0.00 -cancelled) without informing you is that not the same in principal.

 

2) You do not have to inform the bank if the date or amount changes so why inform them if the amount changes to £0. Your argument to the bank(if you needed it) could be that you only cancelled it with the company and not the bank because it was only a temporary cancellation with a view to resetting it with the company the following month or so.

 

Remember

If any payment is made in error, you should contact your bank or building society who are responsible for giving you a full and immediate refund - even if the original error was made by the organisation collecting the payment.

[campino]

Well i genuinely was intending to restart DD at a later date with company! (although in the end it was easier to cancel and then start new policy at later date - although Bank dont need to know this!)

 

Cheers for advice - i will ring them again this evening and see if i get any joy

[mahharg]

Good for you

BTW thanks for reputation remark like a little birthday present to me:D hence don't be surprised if I am not on here tomorrow might have a bit of an headache from my birthday drink(turned into a long weekend)

[campino]

No worries

 

Least I could do with all the advice & help you have given me!

 

Have a good birthday drinks :grin:

[MilkTrayMan]

Hello campino!

There are certain DD's that can only be cancelled by the recipient, not by yourself...am not quite sure which though?!

I've never had one of those type myself,

...I would imagine that it all depends on the Original Agreement that U signed with the recipient of the DD?!

[pearsoncdw]

I had similar problem with the Nationwide in the fact that I had a DD returned unpaid once before, but then paid the company (ie Sky) along with the next payment by card. Sky told me that they wouldn't take the next payment out but they did and I got charged for it by Nationwide because of no funds in the account at the time. Sky decided to claim both charges seperately and therefore I got charged twice by the Nationwide for this £30.00 x 2 plus en extra £20.00 for going overdrawn because of it. I told Sky that they were out of order but they couldn't give a brass monkey about it. I mentioned this to Nationwide who said that they would look into the matter. I got a letter from them, telling that "since I was a valued bank account holder" they sympathised, "you are not getting anything from us". Two faced liars they are (Nationwide).

[pearsoncdw]

On a seperate matter I am taking them to court to claim back all the charges that have occurred on my account when I was with them.